VT100.net

This site is dedicated to the range of video terminals produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
from 1970 to 1995. The most famous of these is the VT100, a name which is recognised most often today as a
setting in terminal emulation programs.

The real video terminals dealt with here are dedicated devices which are connected to a computer (host) with
a serial line. They usually consist of a screen and keyboard, with very little processing power and no local
storage. Characters typed on the keyboard are transmitted to the host computer, and characters output from
programs running on the host are sent to the terminal to be displayed on the screen. Why would we use devices
this simple? Well, their simplicity makes them reliable. There is no operating system and no downloaded
software, so they are pretty much impervious to user meddling and viruses. Before PCs put computing power
on every desk, a central computer would support tens of users. Now that PCs are as powerful as old mainframes
and can run capable multi-user operating systems (take a bow, Linux), there is a resurgence of interest in
these low bandwidth, low cost and low maintenance devices.

I started this site in October 1998 as a place to put information that I had collected about the VT320 which
I have been using for ten years. Although I’ve used various Digital terminals over the past decade,
my favourite is the VT320, mainly because I’ve spent more time writing programs to take advantage of (and stretch) its capabilities than
for any other in the range.

New Manuals

Resources Elsewhere

The most comprehensive set of links I know of is maintained
by Richard Shuford in his Terminal Information Archive. Richard
has been scouring newsgroups for years, archiving the best postings on terminal-related topics. This is an essential bookmark.